About Us - Late for the Train History

      Hello.  Welcome and thanks for visiting our new website...a work in progress.  My name is David Dobrick and I'm the guy who started Late For The Train.  I still work here although not so much in the cafes anymore.  I am now in the Roastery/Office. 
This introduction is my own take on how I started in the business of coffee and some of the events leading up to today's Late For The Train. 
      When most people think about the history of their company they usuallly begin with the date they opened their doors.  For Late For The Train that was the Winter of '93.   But I consider the beginning, the true beginning around '80.  That's when I had one of those moments of inspiration that continues to this day.      
      As it happened, in 1980 I took up an offer to participate in a coffee 'tasting' a few months into my new job as a retail sales clerk at Peet's Coffee & Tea.  Up until then the only coffee I ever had was a reluctant cup at a roadside Diner or Denny's.  To make my invitation even more unique, I had never been invited to a training at any of my prior places of employment.  I guess I needed the training...
      At the 'tasting' there were about six of us gathered around a table.  We were in the roastery where pallets of coffee were stacked and the roaster stood by looking like something out of WillyWonka or a factory circa 1920.  It was interesting.  As we began to sip and evaluate our second or third sample I had the undeniable impression that what I was sipping and slurping was simply superb.  I liked it well enough...medium-bodied, sweet...to tell Mr. Peet!  Mr. Peet, in turn, sampled the offering and immediately looked aghast.  No, he looked put out and disgusted.  He immediately spit the tasting into his spittoon and left our session to begin making phone calls and furiously barking out orders to his staff.  I have a vague memory of the shipment being afloat or something like that.
      Mr. Peet returned and had us 'cup' the sample again so we could experience what a truly terrible coffee tasted like; one brimming with the taste of latex!  Huh?  It was obviously apparent to Mr. Peet that somebody had choosen to plant coffee trees where there was once a rubber plantation.  Something to be wary about, he said.     To him, there was enough rubber in the pot to outfit a semi with new Firestones.  This particular coffee was supposed to be silky, sweet, and well-balanced.  Instead, what we were drinking was a cup unworthy. One thing was certain; the shipment wasn't going to be unloading in Emeryville. 
       My inspiration arrived as our session was wrapping up.  I was intrigued by the craft of roasting, the agribusiness side of the trade, the social history of coffee...and figuring out how I could one day smell the latex too.  I thought there had to be a coffee trade school somewhere.  So I asked Mr. Peet.  He looked at me, firmly pointing to my cup still sitting on the table and said, "there's nowhere to go. Everything you need to know is in there.  Drink more coffee."  
That did it for me.  Passion! 
       I left Peet's for other employment; seeking what it was I wanted 'to do'.  But I kept coming back to coffee.  A business using craft and weaving simplicity and complexity, global reach and local niche continued to have great appeal.  By '84 I was in and never looked back.  Thirteen years after Peet's I found myself newly transplanted to Flagstaff.  Within months I was sitting at the bar of the Weatherford hotel drawing up rent conditions (literally on a napkin) for my first espresso bar with my new landlord Sue Bennett.  This was the Summer of '92.  We still occupy the same 650 square feet at 107 N. San Francisco Street in the historic downtown Flagstaff.  

-More History-

      There's more stories in the years from '92 to now.  They become less my story and more the stories of all the people who have worked at Late For The Train over the years.  None of it could have unfolded without them.
      From then to now we opened a second espresso bar/cafe in Flagstaff on Hwy 180 as well as a bakery and an espresso kiosk at Flagstaff Medical Center.  In 1996 we started roasting coffee in our second cafe.  Operating a roastery, bakery, and espresso bar out of 1,500 square feet of renovated 1960's era filling station proved to be a bit much so around '99-'00 money was borrowed, dirt was purchased, and plans were made to expand.  
      More years and more borrowed money later we moved into a new roasting facility!  Along with the roastery we also have offices and a distribution center under one roof.  Yea! No more office in the living room/kitchen or green bean storage in the garage or dry-goods in the basement.  We've also left the baking to others so we could focus on roasting coffee and operating our cafes.

- GETTING REAL WITH STEEL -

     We rolled out of 2009 packaging our freshly roasted coffee in custom printed steel cans.  The cans look kind of retro; pale green, sunrays, Arizona roadmap just like our paper hot-cups, and little stick people doing fun stuff around the base.  Our Mission Statement, "Brewing Community in a World Class Cup" stretches across the can in a dark roasted band too.  We think our cans are better than a bag.  You can use 'em to store nuts & bolts or art supplies, loose coin, pens, etc.  Or recycle them if you really have to. 
      We started canning to better seal in coffee's freshness and have a reusable and recyclable container.  There's no better way today to package freshly roasted coffee than steel cans with one-way degassing valves in the lid.  We invite you to give our cans a peek and a try.  Pull back the easy peel lid and...swoosh...fresh roasted aroma fills the air!
     In January of 2010 we began a refill program.  If you bring back your can into one of our espresso bars we refill it with our fresh roasted coffee for only $6.50.  That's getting to be quite popular.
       The coffee trade has come a long way since 1980-96.  Farmers and Co-ops are using specialized cultivars, drying methods, and processing techniques (as well as cutting edge sustainable practices) that are creating new standards in Specialty Coffee.  We have to keep up.
      Thanks to the folks at Arizona National Bank we can keep up; we are installing a new, full of whistles, gadgets and gauges Diedrich CR-50 roaster.  Our original Diedrich IR-24 is still plugged in but the new CR-50 has updated burner and control technologies that make for better fuel efficiency and roast profiling capabilities.  We are very seriously excited to make your coffee taste even better with the use of new technologies.  
      It's crazy to think we go through so much coffee.  'Never thought in a million years that lease terms on a napkin would unfold like it has.
     
Thanks, thanks, thanks,  
                             David Dobrick

- THE NAME -

     Some people ask: "Hey, where did you get that name 'Late for the Train?'"

      In '92 I was headed for a Specialty Coffee Conference in Seattle.  My first.  In prior years I had made some attempts to get information for starting a coffee business.  No luck.  No respect.  No track record.  No money.  No concept of a bottom line... So I decided to attend the conference with printed business cards.  That would get the attention of equipment dealers! I'd be a walking, talking  bank account.  But I had a problem; I didn't have a name for my business.  As I made a list, edited and procrastinated my flight was nearing.... 48 hours to be exact.  My wife Teresa saw my plight and stated I better make up my mind quick or I was going to be "late for the train"  O.K.  That was it, off to print.  As I went around the conference isles people got a kick out of the idea of my calling a business Late For The Train.   Women remembered it better than they did my name.  The older 'professional' men looked at me like I was breaking some kind of clubhouse rule.  This was '92 when owning a business was serious affair; before it was o.k. for work to be fun.  Ha!   Later that year I moved to Flagstaff and I put an address on the card.  It was a busy year. 
       Depending on the day, the name Late For The Train can conjure up a myriad of musings for me.  Let it do something for you too.  Modernity, time, nostalgia, slow-fast food.  Late?  who cares.  Late? have a good reason...like a fresh cuppa jo. Late? Again!  Life.  We so often end up measuring it in time.  Don't be late for it.  On second thought, go ahead and be late.  Have fun.  Love it up.

Thanks for taking the time,  
                                  David